French Pastry Course in Californina Wine Country

Spend a long weekend learning to make classic French pastries with a French-trained chef. Are you in love with French pastries and have always wanted to know how to easily create them? Chef Kathy will demystify the art of French pastry-making and teach you techniques, tips and the skills you need to create famous French pastries like eclairs, tarts, the St. Honore, charlotte, macarons, L’Opera, a Christmas Buche de Noel and more.

This 4-day class is ideal for all levels of pastry enthusiasts, both the serious entertainer or the novice who especially wants to make and sample their creations. You do not need to have any prior knowledge or training to be successful and able to recreate the pastries on your own at home. Classes will be hands-on and in a small group setting, so every participant gets plenty of attention. Classes take place in a private cottage in Sonoma, in the center of Northern California’s famous wine country. Each day of the 4-day course will be divided into two 3 1/2-hour sessions. All lunches and two group dinners at local restaurants are included in this course. As with all our vacations, Chef Kathy personally selects the best dining venues. Space is limited to only 8 people per workshop.

DATES AND PRICING

March 8 – 11, 2018

PRIVATE IN-HOME COURSES AVAILABLE IN NORTHERN AMERICA: This course is available for private groups of 2 – 8 people in your city and even your own home in the U.S. with Chef Kathy from November – March each year. Make it a one-on-one course or invite your friends and make it a French Pastry Party. Please Contact Us with your request and Chef Kathy will get back to you with all the details.

**Airfare, accommodations, transportation to Sonoma, travel insurance, meals not mentioned above, and expenses of a personal nature (souvenirs and other personal items) are not included in the French Pastry Makiing Workshop package price.

OPTIONAL 2-DAY WINE COUNTRY PACKAGE: Stay an extra two days and explore California wine country with Chef Kathy, where she grew up and also worked after finishing culinary school in Paris. One day, of the two-day package, is devoted to the food and wine of Sonoma Valley. The second day will be a full day devoted to the food and wine of the Napa Valley. Ask about this package at time of booking.

THE PASTRY-MAKING CLASSES
This is a hands-on pastry course limited to just 8 people. Each guest will receive plenty of one-on-one learning time. The first two days focus on the fundamental building blocks of French pastry, the doughs and creams needed to create more elaborate pastries. The final two days, you’ll move on to more advanced desserts, the entremets – both classic and reinvented. These classes are designed for amateurs and pastry enthusiasts of all cooking and pastry making levels.

Day 1: – Focus on French doughs & creams – French Tarts and Charlottes

Morning class: Guests will make pate sable, pastry cream, almond cream, frangipane, salted butter caramel and chocolate ganache; and bake and assemble some of the tarts

Afternoon break – We’ll break for 1.5 hours for you to enjoy lunch and relax.

Afternoon class: Guests will make lady fingers and chocolate Bavarian cream and assemble a Charlotte aux Poire (Pear). They will assemble the remaining tartelettes from the morning class.

Evening Group Dinner – The group will meet in the evening at a local restaurant in Sonoma for a group dinner together.

Day 2 – Focus on Pate a Choux, Caramel and Macarons

Morning class: Guests will make pate a choux dough and pastry cream in 4 flavors, then use it to make different types of pate a choux pastries: chouquettes, eclairs, and St. Honore

Afternoon break – We’ll break for 1.5 hours for you to enjoy lunch and relax.

Afternoon class: Guests will make French macarons and will use the classic creams we’ve made in class to fill them.

Day 3 – Focus on the classic entremets: Le Succes and L’Opera

Morning Class: Guests will make the components necessary and assemble the classic dessert, Le Succes.

Afternoon break – We’ll break for 1.5 hours for you to enjoy lunch and relax.

Afternoon class: Guests will make the components necessary and assemble the classic dessert, L’Opera.

Day 4 – Buche de Noel

All-Day Class: Guests will create two types the famous French Christmas Yule Log cake, one in the traditional style and another in a more modern style biscuit jaconde, coffee buttercream, coffee imbibing syrup, and all our components for our Opera “cake.”

Afternoon break – We’ll break for 1.5 hours mid-day for you to enjoy lunch and relax.

In the evening, we’ll meet back together for our farewell dinner together at a Sonoma restaurant.